10 iOS Synthesizers for iPad Musicians

While GarageBand is arguably the best bargain in the App Store, offering up a potent brew of playable instruments and integrated multitrack recording, there has been an avalanche of impressive dedicated synthesizer apps in the last couple of years. If you're overwhelmed by the sheer volume of choices, here's a quick rundown of some of the top available picks. None are designed to replace GarageBand; in fact, most are primarily meant to be used in live musical performances, played as unique instruments with no counterparts in the real world. And the most expensive iPad synth app is still cheaper than almost any commercial Audio Units plugin for a desktop, so you'll find quality, convenience, and value within these 10 apps.

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Synth Apps for iPad

If there’s a single must-have music app – besides GarageBand – it’s definitely ThumbJam ($8.99), an amazingly expressive and musically enticing sample-based instrument. It includes extensive support for the accelerometer, plus an encyclopedic collection of musical scales that makes it impossible to play a wrong note in just about any musical style imaginable.

Combining a very tweakable synth engine and cool audio effects, SynthX ($9.99) sounds fantastic, is a cinch to use, and did we mention it plays like a fine-tuned Les Paul Black Beauty? You have to see the realtime waveform display dynamically under your fingertips to believe it; amazingly, one of the first iOS deep synth apps remains a timeless classic.

A really nice example of a traditional synthesizer ported to iOS, NLogSynth Pro ($14.99) is slick-sounding instrument with dense analog warmth and some truly deep programming options. There's also a version of NLog that you can run on the Mac as an Audio Units plugin, compatible with most major recording and sequencing software, and the two can even share sound patches.

Addictive Synth ($5.99) is definitely one of the better deals on the App Store, with a potent arpeggiator, a unique spectral noise generator (capable of aural wonders even more bizarre than the name implies), intensely thick additive synthesis sound, and a wealth of excellent included sounds. For the price, there’s nothing deeper or more programmable.

Two dozen oscillators float on a pool of ferromagnetic fluid, and it all comes to life as you push and pull the oscillators with your fingers, resulting in the most haunting, dynamic drone sounds on the iPad. CP1919 ($9.99) isn’t cheap, and is nowhere near as tonally flexible as other iPad synths, but frankly, there’s no precedent for this amazing instrument, which sounds frankly alien in origin.

The mighty Moog name has always been the Cadillac of the traditional synthesizer world, and this pricey app is perhaps the most refined and musical of our roundup. From the mighty booming bass to ethereal leads worthy of keyboard legend Rick Wakeman, Animoog ($29.99) is a class act -- the Stradivarius of iPad synth apps.

A much more refined version of the popular freeware app Mugician, GeoSynth ($9.99) is a uniquely playable and expressive musical instrument. The app offers sonic flexabilty thanks to custom sample support, and truly makes it effortless to play the kind of complex note runs that made Eddie Van Halen a rock guitar hero.

This is probably the single best blend of easy interface, and deep, rich sound; for the price, Sunrizer ($4.99) is a perfect performance synth, with smooth pitch and modulation wheels, a single screen for all patch editing, and a powerful, analog-warmth punch that makes it a perfect rock and roll instrument.

Based on an innovative approach to making sound called granular synthesis, Grain Science ($9.99) is a great app for taking sampled sounds and turning them into sonic science-fiction, perfect for burbling electronic lines, dance music, and strange aural experiments. It’s got potent controllers for realtime performance, a next-generation interface, and some deep programmability.

This insanely complex monster makes unique use of the compass, accelerometer and multi-touch screen to deliver the single most powerful performance synth on iOS. While it’s as expensive as Animoog, TC-11 ($29.99) features the deepest feature set and farthest-out sound possibilities of any iOS synth, and is the current king of the heap.

Comments

Being relatively new to music creation on the iPad it's still early days for me so comparison pieces like this are very helpful. I already grabbed ThumbJam and Animoog and they are brilliant. Haven't felt the need to tweak or mess with the preloaded sounds much either all very useable. Have to mention "Donut" by The Strange Agency though, not a synth I know but with a little time spent the results can be amazing, oh yes and Filtatron is well worth grabbing too.

doc69 - not forgotten, just ran out of room. And I'd debate that it was the best of the available iPad synths - it's very cool, make no mistake, but it takes some real work to program it (like the original hardware version). I also left out MorphWiz, SampleWiz, Figure, SynthTronica, DXi, CrystalSynthAT, Alchemy, GrainBender, Reactable, Echo String, Curtis, Donut, Space and a few others. :-)